We are setting off to start our new life in Melbourne, Australia.
With us on this adventure is as little as we could imagine bringing to a
new home halfway around the world. Two bags for each of us to last until
our half container pod of remaining essentials (and some not so) are set
to arrive 4-6 weeks after we do.
On a steel gray January morning we bid adieu to Alley 24, our home
for nearly four years, tossed our two bags into the Subaru for the last
time and drove up to Ballard to crash in our friend’s 4’ by 7’ TV room.
This will be our cozy accommodations for four nights until our flight on
the 20th. Sometime in that span we’ll be selling our trusty steed and
further shedding some last possessions that missed the boat but can’t be
justified in the checked luggage.
Now that we are unemployed, transient couch surfers the enormity of
the move must be faced. No more second guessing the decision, no more
dreamy discussions. Now just real, live logistics – an AirBnB, work
visas, money transfers, international shipping manifestos, packing
re-packing our luggage.
We’ll be there soon and once we arrive we’ll do our best to document
our adventure here so feel free to follow along as we share the
highlights of our life Down Under.
Arrival in a Strange Land
22 January 2015 Melbourne, Vic
A full twenty-four hours after leaving Seattle – via our scheduled
Los Angeles stop and our unscheduled Sydney one – we arrived in
Melbourne. Immigration and customs took a matter of minutes, either a
nod to Australian efficiency or, possibly, apathy. Our journey to the
taxi stand took us outside and into the heat, a very welcome 36C (97F)
heat. As our cab headed into the city our fatigue and exhaustion melted
away as our new home came into view out of the car windows. We had made
it. Our new lives here were a blank canvass waiting for us to fill them
with memories of a lifetime. This blew a strong wind into our sails;
ready we were to see what this continent has to offer.
After a few wrong turns down some tricky one-way alleys, our driver
found our AirBNB flat (apartment) and set us free. We dumped
our luggage, changed into our bathers (swimsuits) and headed
down to the St. Kilda beach to showcase the whitest skin in all of Oz
(Australia), perhaps the Southern Hemisphere. In the mid-arvo
(afternoon),our hunger pangs drove us from the beach to Fitzroy
Street for a snack. We cashed in our gift certificate to Milk the Cow, a wine and cheese
shop near the beach. All manner of fancy spreads and cuts were brought
our way; all consumed in short order. We retired for our first night
down under, but not before catching a few matches of The Tennis (The
Australian Open) on The Tele (TV).
Settling In
23 January 2015 St. Kilda, Vic
On our first full day we dove right into the culture with a lazy cup
of morning tea ([Twinnings] (https://twinings.com.au/), of course) on the deck. The
cool, marine breeze of the early morning quickly gave way to summer
heat. Inspired to experience this new place we took a long walk along
the Bay
Trail down to Point Ormond. This is a truly fantastic trail.
Kilometers upon kilometers of pricey coast real estate dedicated solely
to public use. We will undoubtedly spend considerable time moving to and
fro on non-vehicular thoroughfare. Bikes must be purchased and soon.
Andy is keen on rollerblades; Erin not so much so.
The walk back was warm; the heat, the sweat, the sun on our skin all
so wonderful after the last few months in wet and cool Pacific
Northwest. We live here now.
The Tennis
24 January 2015 Melbourne, Vic
For three weeks in late January and early February all eyes – in the
tennis world at least – are on Melbourne and the Australian Open. Or, more affectionately
referred to here on the ground as The Tennis . The cultural
immersion program we had set for ourselves dictated that we attend.
On a gorgeous, sunny Saturday with temperatures near 30C (86F) we
arrived early, as did the rest of the city. Tickets to the two main
courts were sold out so we settled for ground passes. A ground pass
allows access to all other venues but main courts, including the very
large Hisense Arena. Our lack of planning did mean we’d miss Venus
Williams’ match; however, our early arrival permitted a viewing of
Serena practicing from up close, so not all was lost. It should not go
unmentioned that the lines to enter the cultural events – the beer and
wine gardens – stretched on to the far reaches of the grounds as
Melbourne’s 20-somethings shook off last night’s hangover and queued up
for another run at it. No prom or gala in America had anything on this
scene.
Serena’s practice session sated our patriotic hunger; next on to
Hisense for some live matches. Prior to the opening 11am match seats
were plentiful. As rookies do, we made a rookie mistake and sat in the
glaring sun, amazed at why such good seats were available when less
optimal ones (shaded) were taken. A few hours later, the place was
packed and we were sweating through our clothes, the full power of
antipodal sun baking our pale northern bodies. We endured two hours of
roasting to see the Spaniard, Muguruza, down Bacsinszky of Switzerland
in a hard fought women’s singles match. A welcome relief as the shade
enveloped us for match two. Here, the 8th ranked Montenegro-Canadian
Milos Raonic used his 220+ km/h serve to breeze by the scrappy Benjamin
Becker of Germany.
The grounds were throbbing full at this point and, needing food and
drink, we called it a day and left for home. Our hunger and thirst
pulled us into a pit stop at the Royal Croquet Club’s (RCC) off-site
Aussie Open extravaganza…basically a massive beer garden with food
trucks, croquet courts and a DJ spinning house music. Attendance was
thin – it was early – but judging by the size of the beer stands it
would become a righteous rave later in the evening. Still jet-lagged and
a good decade older than the intended demographic we could not muster
the resolve to go on a day-long drinking spree and, after a delicious
snack and two Hahn Lights, made our way home. Cultural immersion
complete for today.
Market Day
25 January 2015 Melbourne, Vic
The Queen Victoria Market is both a
tourist trap full of fake Australian Outback hats and crocodile wallets
as well as fully functional grocery store and mercantile. In what other
seven hectare space upon the face of this earth can you buy a pallet of
kangaroo pelts, powerful mystery crystals, Footie gear, a 55-gallon drum
of raw almonds, Crest toothpaste, collectible dolls, antique hunting
knives and a dozen fresh duck eggs? Any form of great quest can be
outfitted from here; same too for fulfilling the needs of most eccentric
among us. There is truly something for everyone. We bought none of the
above, instead spending most our time investigating the widest variety
of cured meats we’d ever seen.
[Erin] Being from Seattle, my expectations of coffee are high.
Melbourne’s reputation as having a world class coffee culture proceeds
it. In the three days we’ve been here, I’ve found it to be as promised
and have been been gleefully sampling from a variety of new favorite,
local cafes. Market Lane
Coffee has a corner shop in the Queen Vic Market and since I wasn’t
really sure what a flat white or a long black would end up as, I ordered
a cappuccino like a pro, right up until I tried to pay for a $4 coffee
with two 20 cent coins. (For some reason the smaller coins are larger
amounts here). After Googling “long black” I decided it would be the
closest to my Americano order back home and I can avoid looking like a
complete dumbass next time. I am also adding this bit of information to
save you all from Googling “long black” in the workplace.
With Market bags in hand and caffeine needs met, we took the tram
back to our temporary home in St. Kilda for a sunny lunch on our patio.
At some point we will stop acting like this is a vacation and get on
with the details of finding a permanent dwelling, communicating with
family, preparing for work, being responsible adults, but not quite
yet…after all, we are still wearing fresh, clean clothes from our
suitcases. Life doesn’t really start until laundry calls.
’Stralia Day
26 January 2015 Burwood, Vic
Australia Day celebrates the 1788 landing of the British First Fleet
at Sydney Cove. We expected something like an Australian Fourth of July
extravaganza. However, on account of souring public opinion over the
ensuing treatment of the Aboriginal peoples, the reality of the holiday
is something closer to a modest Columbus Day barbecue. As luck so had
it, an old classmate of Erin’s had recently moved to Melbourne and had
extended to us an invite to a afternoon party out in Wattle
Park, east of the city. On the (not to scale) Melbourne tram map, it
looked close enough. Ignorant of the speed, or lack thereof, of the tram
system we jumped aboard the 16 Tram headed east then north through
St. Kilda East, Balacava, Caulfield North, Malvern, Kooyong and then
Hawthorn where we transferred to the 70 Tram whereupon we crawled
through Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Surrey Hills and finally into
Burwood, home to the Park of Wattle. Along the way we were overtaken by
many cyclists, scooters, rickshaws, jitneys, wheelchairs, mums with
prams, stray dogs; really anything wheeled or anyone particularly fleet
of foot was bound to pass us eventually.
Ninety or so minutes later we arrived. The beer that we purchased at
the beginning of our journey was now fully the temperature of the
ambient air. The small fete was enjoyable, a good chance to meet some
local people and test our new land’s ability to throw a bash. Marooned
out here in the burbs, the only economically sensible thing to do was to
ride the same slow pony back to town…at least we knew what to expect
this time. We rewarded ourselves for our arduous travels with some of
the world’s greatest frozen yogurt, Yo-Chi. To walk off these excess
calories, we ambled down to the beach to watch the sun dip below the
gentle waves of Port Phillip Bay.
Back to Work
27 January 2015 University of Melbourne, Vic
[Andy] Eventually, the fun had to end. I was down here for a job
after all. Mind you I wasn’t headed to the salt mines or anything
resembling difficult physical labor, but coming back to a schedule and
being responsible to an employer was an unwelcome change
nonetheless.
I arrived to the sparkling new Melbourne School of Design (MSD)
building and my 9:30 appointment with the department’s lowest ranking
human resources official to find that my name was not ‘in the system’.
As a result, I could not be granted my ID card, login information,
email, etc. Really anything that would permit me to do any actual work,
administrative or otherwise. I was, however, awarded my complimentary
kitchen set with a tea mug of a color of my choosing. Now this is the
warm welcome I had been expecting. Editor’s Note from the Future: This
was a foreshadow of the general competence and priorities of the
department.
Additionally, due to some scheduling issues, there is a squatter in
my current office for the next few weeks. I have been set up with with a
temporary work space in a large group meeting-type room (with adequate
space for my tea set). It is comfortable enough and my office mates – a
pair of ebony mannequins of differing completeness – are quiet, albeit a
bit weird.
By midday I was starting to wonder if I actually had a job here, but
in wandering the halls I did locate a door with my name on it…so at
least someone was expecting me. With any luck tomorrow I’ll be able to
commence my tenure at the University. For now, I’m just a visitor stuck
in a room with mannequins busy balancing his spoon on his nose while
shotgunning lukewarm, free tea. Oh yeah, and every time I leave the room
to go to the bathroom I need to place a chair in the door lest it close
behind me and lock me out.
Beach Boxes
30 January 2015 Brighton, Vic
When not outside basking in the glorious January weather, we are busy
on Domain.com.au searching for
a place to live. Visiting these homes means walking or taking the
trams/trains to different neighborhoods around the city until we are
exhausted or sunburned, often both. Our standard operating procedure
once in such a condition is to find refuge and relief in a gelato or
frozen yogurt shop. I dare you to judge us.
Recently we found ourselves in Brighton touring a home which was
wonderful but also for which we didn’t really have the budget to live
in. Brighton is a beautiful and bougie location just inland from a
sparkling white beach. Like a crow drawn to shiny objects, Erin
gravitates towards bright colors and patterns. Being this close, we made
time to visit to the famous Brighton
Beach Bathing Boxes. Our stay was no short affair.
Sticking our toes in the sand and watching the tourists (ourselves
not included; we are locals after all) fumbled with self-sticks was a
needed distraction from the stress of finding a home. The rental process
here is, well, odd. Open houses or inspections, as they are referred to,
are 15 minute affairs, and unfurnished rentals don’t come with a
washer/dryer, dishwasher or refrigerator unless you are lucky. As a
result, the next time we move, we will be the proud owners of a bunch of
big ass appliances. Two of the houses that we are interested in have
inspection times tomorrow, unwittingly with overlapping 15 minute
periods and across town from one another. We will divide and conquer,
and hopefully trust the other’s judgment…but for now, we worry not about
this and relax on the beach dreaming of our next cool, sugary treat.
In Search of a Home
1 February 2015 St. Kilda, Vic
As the calendar turned to February we remain vagabonds, living off of
takeout at our small, but comfortable AirBnB in the heart of St. Kilda.
We recently put in a rental application for a small
brick home in charming Albert Park. There are no guarantees here in
this ‘lottery for a rental home’ system as it is not clear what merits
or perhaps roll of a dice determine whether or not we’ll enjoy the
luxury of paying a lot of money for a quaint living space. This home is
one of hundreds that we’ve looked at online and one of a handful that
we’ve inspected and applied for. We feel like we have a good chance here
because it isn’t the in the hip, cool neighborhoods north of the city,
but in a quieter, family-ish area to the south. All the better for us as
we prefer beaches and parks to bars and brunches anyways.
This process has been, well, exhausting. Our past weekend consisted
mostly of jumping on and off various trams to schlep around to far-flung
areas of the city in order to inspect homes or check out new
neighborhoods. At some of the more glamorously located places, the
crowds are insane; over 50 people showed up to a house in Fitzroy on
Saturday morning. All this bandying about has its benefits – we stumbled
on a wild Chinese New Year celebration, have found some of the city’s
best architecture, sampled even more frozen yogurt and gelato shops and
even procured Erin her first (likely of many) Australian meat pies. We
know some tram routes by heart and now have a pretty good sense of what
is overpriced. All this local knowledge should also help Andy in the
classroom where his first day of teaching is soon approaching.
Not So Super Bowl
2 February 2015 Prahran, Vic
It was 9am Monday morning and we were headed not to work or to a
house showing but, instead, to a pub. A friend from Seattle of a friend
from Seattle had invited us out to the College Lawn Hotel in the
Prahran neighborhood for the Super Bowl. Entrance was pricey, but we did
get all you could drink beers and wines and a wide variety of free bar
foods. This is the sort of spectacle we had expected given all of our
study about our new land suggested that the Aussies were “mad for
sport.” Upon arrival, we noticed the 12th man flag in the window. We had
made a good choice.
The place filled quickly and there were about 200 people jammed in by
the time the game started. The College Lawn is a big place with numerous
outdoor beer gardens, separate rooms and bars, so it never really felt
too crowded. I’d guess it was about 50% Seahawks fans, 30% Patriots
fans, 10% random NFL jerseys (Barry Sanders, Darrelle Revis and Mark
Chmura…ok, no Mark Chmura) with the balance made up of about 20 odd
Aussie dudes who didn’t care much for the game, but couldn’t seem to
pass up all-you-could drink event on a Monday morning.
We met about a dozen people from Seattle or the surrounding area,
including one ex-Seattleite whose name was, I kid you not, Erin Krause.
The people and the atmosphere were great, the beer was good and the food
was, well, filling. We’ll stop there as nothing really needs to be said
about the game
itself….at least we had an ample selection of decent Australian
microbrews (and Heineken) to kill the pain.
How Ya Goin
4 February 2015 Albert Park, Vic
After many tours, followup emails and countless hours scouring online
listings, we finally secured a place to live. It is a wee Victorian
cottage in a neighborhood called Albert Park. It is a quaint, but
upscale little area with adequate, but not hip, amenities. Importantly
is only a walk or short bike ride to the beach and a direct tram ride
away from the University and downtown Melbourne. We are undoubtedly
bringing down the median income for the area. We get the keys on Friday,
so we will share more later in the week about the house.
[Erin] Today, I focused on some early neighborhood reconnaissance.
Near our house (feels weird to say this) is another open air market, the
South Melbourne
Market. Compared to the Victoria Market we visited last week, this
market is much smaller, but it still has amazing variety and better
prices. It is less catered to the tourists and more toward locals
looking for their groceries, staple items and delicious meals. Specialty
shops abound, like the Tea
Drop an entire booth dedicated to exotic and high end teas. It has
Easter egg-colored canisters stacked so high, it necessitated a ladder
to reach them. And that bookstore-style ladder is not just some trendy
design detail, my own order required its use.
Picking my way slowly stall by stall through the market, I continued
to come across the same issue we’ve both have had for the past two weeks
of meeting and greeting friendly Aussies. Instead of the “G’day” that
everyone in America expects Australians to say, we almost always get
some slurred version of ‘How ya goin’ or ‘How’re ya going?’ This
obviously means ‘Hi, How are you doing?’, and so we usually answer
‘Good’, but every single time there is an urge to answer the question of
where I’m going or how I got here, By tram? St. Kilda? I walked?
Knowing that we’d soon be leaving our St.Kilda apartment we spent our
evening with a dinner at Babu Ji a fashionable
Indian restaurant just down the street. For a bit more than the cost of
standard meal, the quality was outstanding. Some of most unique Indian
flavors we each have ever tasted. We are quite grateful that our new
home is just a short tram ride away from this gem. To aid in the
digestion of this large meal, we concluded with a nice long walk along
St.Kilda Beach. Our home beach for just a few more days, until we
relocated a mile or so to the west.
Ikea-a-thon
8-9 February 2015 Richmond, Vic
We now have a house. It is filled with exactly nothing as all we own
here are the bags we brought on the plane (and the various suncreens
Andy has hoarded in the past two weeks) and those are still at the
AirBnB we have for a few more days. So we went shopping. Furniture
shopping – the seventh level of hell for one of us. In fact, Andy might
prefer any of the following over furniture shopping: going to the
dentist, watching period-piece dramas and line dancing. All of this
shopping was, however, book-ended by two outdoor festival-type events
and fun pit stops along the way – which is probably why we got through
it in one piece. And, not only does Andy now know the difference between
a left and right chaise lounge but he can spot pebble weave upholstery
from 50 meters out….
All of the things that we couldn’t physically carry out of the store
will be delivered to our home sometime in the next week. With any luck
our number of days of sleeping on the floor will be exactly zero.
Overall, our weekend went something like this:
(Fri) South Melbourne Market night
market complete with delicious street paella.
(Sat) Some suburban Ikea and Domain Housewares Mall (think Ron
Swanson’s personal hell).
(Sun AM) West Elm, then urban Ikea (yes, multiple Ikeas in a
weekend)
(Sun PM) The St. Kilda Festival with
300,000 of our fellow Melburnians…right in our back yard.
Moving In
12 February 2015 Albert Park, Vic
This entire blog post could be about nothing more than the series of
minor failures that we have had in the past week while moving into our
new home. Instead, we will channel the positive and enlighten you with
the few, but crucial wins we have had secured.
To begin, we are now the proud owners of a complete set of ‘white
goods’ – washing machine, dryer, and refrigerator. True adults are we.
Once past the initial annoyance of knowing that we would have to not
only buy these and but then also move them around to each place we will
rent in the city we have become quite attached to them. Not so far as to
name them, though. Not yet.
As our shipping crate of things – some necessary and others not – has
been delayed until late March, we are trying to get by living minimally
until then. While temporarily living with ‘just the essentials’ seems
simple enough, it really isn’t as fun as it sounds to cook a full meal
in one pot, or share one towel or sleep on a bed frame without the
proper slats, therefore folding the mattress like a burrito, (one of
many IKEA fails). To remedy this, Erin broke down and just started
buying things we needed. As satisfying as it felt to start filling up
the house, without a car, she was the girl walking a mile and a half
with a stainless steel garbage can balanced on her head, and then back a
mile and a half to return it when she realized it didn’t work with a
plastic bag since, per the shopkeeper, you were just supposed to rinse
out the plastic liner each time (?). Okay, so in the end we did share
some of the fails; some things are too good to keep to oneself.
Back in the win column, we also bought bikes this week. This affair
took an entire afternoon at 99
Bikesbut we ended up with two beautiful road bikes at a bargain
price as well as finding ourselves a new and very Lithuanian friend.
Test riding the bikes was a little horrific at first since biking on the
wrong side of the road is only slightly less jarring than driving on the
wrong side, but we caught on quick. It took a little convincing our
friend that Erin wasn’t completely helpless on a bike, and in the end we
both walked away with men’s bikes. Erin was informed this men’s bike
would fit her fine due to her “gentlemen’s shoulders”. We also learned
more than we wanted to know about a recent crime epidemic in Footscray,
the state of immigration politics in Australia and tips for maintaining
proper brake cable tightness.
Our new wheels allowed us to explore farther and faster than before.
This offered a needed break from hours of Ikea instruction following. It
is also provided much needed practice at operating on the opposite side
of street as we will, eventually, find ourselves driving down here.
A Downtown Walkabout
14 February 2015 Melbourne, Vic
To celebrate St. Valentine (Valentino in the large Italian sector of
Melbourne) we explored our city – a long date filled with many cultural
institutions and ice creams. We began with a trip to the State Library and concluded at Federation Square, connecting these
two iconic places via the least efficient and most interesting route
possible. Down alleyways and up lanes, along the Yarra River walk and
through a Chinese New Year’s festival. Erin paused to capture more
photos of activated streetscapes and sidewalk cafes than Andy cared to,
but this city is proving to be a designer’s dream and she can’t help but
get swept up in it.
Over the past few weeks, Erin has spent considerable time in cafes
stealing wi-fi and drinking coffee with Melburnians. She’s become
familiar with the standard breakfast that is ordered to accompany a
morning coffee. The usual is a granola-based dish (occasionally bircher)
with yogurt and some take on fruit compote. Now that we have acquired a
pot for our kitchen, she has decided she should start making this simple
breakfast dish at home instead of eating out so much. We are in the
middle of summer, and all the markets are selling stone fruit for crazy
sales, so recently she lugged home 2 kilos of it – which is, as she
learned, considerably more than two pounds and not that easy to carry
home. When Andy came home to a fruit poaching factory and asked what I
was making, he heard ‘Truman Capote’ instead of ‘fruit compote’, so now
every morning for breakfast, I sit down to a small, but satisfying bowl
of yogurt and Truman compote.
A Slice of Home
21 February 2015 Melbourne, Vic
In need of a vacuum, a year’s worth of toilet paper, three liters of
barbecue sauce, a kilo and half of haloumi and several other bulk items
that can only be moved with a pallet jack, we took a short tram ride to
Costco
Australia, conveniently located just north of downtown Melbourne.
Rumor has it that the Melburnians were so pleased with the arrival of
the big ‘C’ that they built a Ferris wheel in the parking lot.
It was hot; 37C to be exact, which is about 99F if you are a Yank.
Inside of Costco – a Costco nearly identical in shape, layout, color and
smell to those back home – was a comfortable 20 degrees. There were
Kirkland signs everywhere, large families moving very slowly down every
aisle and the pervasive odor (aroma?) of grilled meats. We trolled the
samples; Erin hitting up the Jelly Belly lady more times than is likely
allowed. Our cart swelled, we had purchased enough necessities that we
had to catch a cab home as schlepping all of our goods on the tram would
have been poor form. It was oddly comforting (or maybe no so oddly) to
be in a place so familiar so far from home. We’ll definitely make this a
monthly outing…if for no other reason than to buy affordable American
whiskey.
In the afternoon, we took a short walk to the Optus store to update
our cell phone plans. On the way home we were caught in a very heavy
15-minute downpour. The sun was shining, the wind howling and massive
raindrops pummeled the sidewalk. It passed, but the heat did not abate
so we grabbed some cheap beers and headed to the beach for sunset.
Sundowners on the beach just a ten minute walk from home. This is a life
one can get used to.
Furniture and F1
25 February 2015 Albert Park, Vic
It was a big week for us. We bought a grill (barbie), our
couch and desk were delivered (installed incorrectly) and our internet
was finally installed (with speeds near that of Andy’s early 2000s dorm
room…). After tethering our cell phones to our computers in order to get
work done and sitting on the floor for 2 weeks, this was a big
improvement. That said, we are coming around to the minimalist approach.
Here, here, Marie
Kondo. By the time our shipping crate arrives – now scheduled for
early April – we may wonder why we thought we needed all the stuff we
brought from Seattle. We will also have to find a place for our bikes
which are currently stored in our second bedroom with all of the giant
boxes from our appliances. Our recycling bin is small so each week Erin
carefully cuts down the huge boxes into smaller pieces to jam into the
tiny bin. We may have emptied that room out by mid-April, it will be
tight. We’ve considered an illegal bonfire in the middle of street some
night, but the Aussies as a whole are a bit jumpy about potential bush
fires.
We are riding our bikes every day and it almost feels OK to be riding
on the wrong (left) side of the road. After we moved in to the
neighborhood we realized that the Melbourne Grand Prix course
takes up residence here as well every March. Although the races don’t
actually start until the 12th of March, the course has been under
construction since we have been here. The course is a loop road around
Albert Park
Lake and until they fully shut the road down our new evening ritual
is to take laps around the course. It is actually quite fun whipping
around the F1 course with no cars on it. Apparently it is going to be
incredibly loud in our little village, but it seems like it will be
entertaining. A lady in Erin’s boxing class said she heads to the coast
every year at this time since the neighborhood becomes “overrun with
Bogans” (Australian term for ‘redneck’).
A Walk in the City, A Walk in the Bush
2 March 2015 Melbourne + Belgrave, Vic
We are getting to know our new city bit by bit and day by day.
Whether by suggestions from new friends, places we have read about on
local websites or curiosities stumbled upon while lost, we end up on
weekly field trips to discover little city gems.
Whilst wandering the city, one of the most pleasant surprises is
volume and diversity of street art in Melbourne. This weekend we decided
to specifically search out some of the downtown alleys and lanes that
have been transformed to destinations. While at first we were reminded
of the Gum Wall in Pike Place Market – the alleys smelled appropriately
of warm garbage and small packs of people were milling around and taking
pictures – the colorful and character-filled alleys won us over and our
hunt for the best hidden murals took most of the afternoon.
Before we moved here, we made it a priority each weekend get out of
the city to hike or camp. We realized it had been five weeks of living
in Melbourne and we hadn’t gotten out of town so we decided to take the
train 1.5 hours east to the end of the line and spend some time hiking
in the Dandendong
Ranges National Park. The Ranges are hills, not mountains, but no
matter, nature is nature. We hiked through massive Eucalyptus forests
and other than an unruly and incredibly loud swarm of parrots, we didn’t
run into any wildlife, poisonous or otherwise. The smell of the
Eucalyptus forests are intoxicating; an aroma that will no doubt stick
with us for the rest of our days. Erin did see a small red ant on Andy’s
back on the walk back to the train station which she immediately
overreacted to and yelled “Fire Ant!” before swatting at repeatedly. The
veracity of the ant sighting remains in doubt by one of our party.
Classroom Debut
8 March 2015 Parkville, Vic
[Andy] The students returned to campus this week, which meant the
peacefulness I had been enjoying at work was suddenly shattered. It was
easy to forget what a scene a thriving 40,000 student campus could
become. Added to this was the fact that we were housed in a brand new
building, the likes of which the students hadn’t seen yet, so much
gawking, pointing and general malaise in way-finding occurred. The start
of the school year also meant that I had to teach.
In terms of week one, well, I survived. My class lost a few minutes
being locked out of our room and I undoubtedly used a number of American
terms that they have no idea the meaning of. To date, no official
complaints were lodged with administration. We’ll see how many students
show up this coming week. While the students were focused on finding
their classes, I sneaked away one afternoon to read in the sun on the
surprisingly empty cricket grounds, enjoying the open spaces far from
the teeming masses.
After we accepted the job here and realized we would be moving to
Melbourne, we spent a good bit of time poking around on Google Earth to
check out our new city. Once we came upon the small town of Ferntree
Gully, we knew we had to pay it a visit. I mean, it just sounds
mystical, right? The weather on Saturday was cloudy, but pleasant so we
hopped a train bound for this – assumed to be – magical place.
The town is located at the edge of the Dandenong
Ranges National Park, and hiking is the main attraction. While it
wasn’t the easiest place to get into, the hike proved quite steep,
challenging and full of massive eucalyptus (gum) trees and very little
undergrowth. A really nice, though busy, place for an afternoon hike.
Also, today we learned that there is an Upper
(but no lower) Ferntree Gully; the Upper also containing a chocolate
factory.
On Sunday morning, we went for a short bike ride along the beach,
cleaned up the back yard and then, when the sun came out, went back to
the beach to relax. We caught the end of a co-ed beach volleyball
tournament – that with a bit of practice – we figured we could have been
competitive in. Next year….
We are settling in to a rhythm, a life less driven by hectic home
searching and appliance shopping and more on finding a calmer, healthier
routine than we had back in the States.
Experimental Cooking
18 March 2015 Parkville, Vic
[Erin] Growing up, whenever my mom would try a meal outside of her
wheelhouse, she would always preface the meal with the descriptive
warning that it was ‘experimental’. Carrying this over into my adult
life, I have begun to refer to Andy’s enthusiastic use of flavors and
discretionary attention to recipes as ‘experimental cooking’ and now
whenever we try something new, it gets the ‘experimental’
disclaimer.
Food is culture. And there are a lot of new flavors in Melbourne for
us to audition. Lamb shows up in places it would never been seen in the
U.S. There is a new palette of seafood and an incredible amount of
beetroot. Some foods just have different names, like Capsicums (bell
peppers), Lollies (sweets), PawPaw (Papaya), hundreds and thousands
(candy sprinkles). When I go to the market, I often spend a lot of time
wandering around finding new things to try out in recipes. The latest
experiment involved a can of Duck Fat I found at the market. Although
this sounds absolutely disgusting, and honestly doesn’t look much
better, I roasted baby potatoes and sage with duck fat and it was
delicious. I am pretty sure we will always be fully stocked with a gross
little can of duck fat in our pantry from now on.
We remain without our shipment of goods and I refuse to buy a bunch
of kitchen tools/dishes since we have all of our stuff ‘on-the-way’, we
are rolling with just the essentials right now. This means 1 pot, 1
pitcher, 2 sets of cutlery, 2 plates/bowls and a variety of Shark Reef Knives that we got
for Christmas and had to check in our baggage. Remarkably, one can do a
lot with one pot. Just today with said pot, I made tea, poached two
eggs, toasted some pepitas, trapped a large bee-fly and transported it
outside, cooked a chili pork ragu, and cooked and then roasted a cheesy
polenta. Of course this usually means it takes twice the amount of time
that any normal cooking process might take, but it usually gives me
twice the satisfaction. Plus, Australia is an island and everyone here
is on some form of Island time…might as well join the crowd.
Today’s Experiment: Chili Pork Ragu over Cheesy Polenta and Kale
Salad with Fennel and Apple.
In adventure news, we rigged a setup to allow our hammock in the
backyard (garden) and took a nice long bike ride down the Yarra River
Trail, stopping only ‘intermittently’ to photograph interesting
landscape design.
Mornington, Day 1
20 March 2015 Mornington Peninsula, Vic
For Erin’s upcoming birthday we decided to finally leave the comforts
of the big city and venture into rural Victoria – the Mornington
Peninsula to be precise. To do so meant renting a car and driving. Not
just any driving, but driving on the left hand side of the road…or
basically unlearning everything that you’ve been consciously (and
sometimes not so) doing for the past 15-20 years.
We picked up our small Toyota at 9am on Friday morning, convincing
conned the salesman into believing that we knew what we were doing,
entered the car on the correct side and managed to get out of the rental
lot without hitting anything or anyone. The first 15 minutes are weird.
It is very hard to estimate the extents of your vehicle and we took a
slow, circuitous route home to pick up our luggage and then were off.
The next 45 minutes are a bit less weird and finally after about an hour
or so of driving it starts to feel somewhat natural.
Out of the city, we continued on the Nepean highway to the little
town of Mornington and stopped for breakfast. From there we took the bay
side road all the way to the Point
Nepean National Park. The parking lot was located in the old
hospital and quarantine grounds that were used to offload passengers
from British ships and stop the spread of typhus or whatever other
diseases (not including bad taste and worse cooking) the Brits were
bringing this way. From there, we hiked the coast all the way to the end
of the Peninsula and the former Fort Nepean. Along the way we explored
many of the bunkers, though for fear of snakes and poisonous spiders
elected to remain on the exterior. The threat of unexploded ordnance,
however, couldn’t quite keep our adventurous spirits in check.
We hiked the road on the way back from the Fort and ran into our
first large native monotreme, an echidna. Despite Erin’s attempts to get
a selfie with our new friend, he remained completely oblivious to us and
cared only about sucking ants up out of the ground.
After our hike, we drove down to the Cape
Schanck lighthouse, our intended accommodation for the evening. Upon
arrival, we were notified that they were full and that they had not
received our reservation details from Expedia. After 90 minutes of phone
calls to various parties we were able to wrangle a refund from Expedia
(or so we’ve been promised). Each side blamed the other and tried to set
us up elsewhere, but we just took the money and ran. Most places were
full on a Friday night but we were able to land a room at the Lindenderry
Farm and Winery up on Red Hill. We slept comfortably after a long
day of beach hikes, driving and phone calls with various customer
service representatives…the latter being the most exhausting.
This was our first trip out to the open ocean (as Melbourne is on
Port Philip Bay) and it is every bit as wild, windy and rugged as
imagined. Oh, and also quite beautiful.
Mornington, Day 2
21 March 2015 Mornington Peninsula, Vic
Our last minute lodging at the Lindenderry Farm and Winery proved
restful and we woke before sunrise to head to the Mornington Peninsula Hot
Springs. With over twenty mineral pools to dip and soak in, we
thought it would be the perfect morning activity. As the first people
through the door, we hustled up the hill to stake our claim in the aptly
named Hilltop pool. Doing so enabled us to catch sunrise with a
360-degree view all to ourselves. As other guests started to show up to
the best pool in the land, we made our way down the hill to try out each
of the different mineral pools.
Erin loves lighthouses. There is something romantically lonely and
tragic about them and they are always anchored on some patch of wild
coastline like a brave little pawn. The Cape Schanck Lighthouse was no
different, and even though we weren’t able to spend the night there as
planned…we did return today to hike along the coastal trails of the
National Park. Although the weather was hot and sunny, the wind made the
temperature feel quite brisk, and after walking down the many stairs
from lighthouse, we tucked in to this little cove and stretched out on
the warm rocks before the steep hike back up the cliffs.
We spent the remainder of the day driving along the coast from small
town to small town. We stopped at a beach outside of Flinders to watch
the surf competition that was in progress and next, in the town of
Sorrento, at the sports fields to watch an ongoing game of Australian
Rules Football. We had apparently parked in the equivalent of the
endzone and our rental card got hit a few times by the ball. We probably
could not have been less obvious as outsiders if we been sprinting
around draped in a house-sized American flag. To finish the day, we met
up with some of our new friends at a particularly photogenic beach cove
in the town of Portsea
for ‘sun-downers’. With our new mates, local wine and our toes buried in
the sand, we toasted to the weekend.
Bachelor Life
31 March 2015 Albert Park, Vic
[Andy] A few weeks ago, you heard about Erin’s daily routine of
one-pot cooking, sun-bathing and trips to the market. With Erin in
Hawaii and me living the bachelor life, I’ll provide some insight into
my own daily exploits. I teach on Tuesday and generally have meetings,
class prep and other administrative duties
…
(click for more).
Botanical Gardens
5 April 2015 Melbourne, Vic
The city is a ghost town. It is Easter weekend, a national holiday,
and it would appear that most of our neighborhood and a fair bit of the
city are off for a final summer’s weekend someplace else. That included
the shop owners and retail clerks. As everything was closed up tight, we
walked to the
…
(click for more).
Grampians National Park
6-7 April 2015 Halls Gap, Vic
Toward our effort to explore our new state of Victoria, we took a
quick two-day trip out for some bushwalking in the Grampians
National Park. The Grampians Mountain Range, or Gariwerd as known to
the local Aboriginals, is a photogenic sandstone range that runs
north-south cutting through the Victorian plains.
…
(click for more).
Fall and Footy
16-18 April 2015 Melbourne, Vic
Fall is definitely here, as the non-indigenous, deciduous trees are
all beginning to drop their leaves. After a lifetime in the Northern
Hemisphere, it is really hard to condition yourself to think of April as
being fall. We’ve both continually been referring to the upcoming months
as ‘summer’, though they’ll be anything but as our local friends are
keen to remind us. People here have assured us
…
(click for more).
Farm Life
1-3 May 2015 Ballarat, Vic
This weekend we were invited out to visit our friends Brooke and
Steve who are ‘farmsitting’ for a month out in the country. The farm is
just outside of the town of Ballarat and although it seemed a world away
from the city, it only took about an hour’s drive when we left midday
Friday. After an afternoon tour of the farm, we drove into Ballarat to
stock up on groceries and drinks. Prior to the first gold strike,
Ballarat was
…
(click for more).
A Day of Culture
10 May 2015 Melbourne, Vic
Our well-laid plans to hike in the mountains east of the city were
dashed due to storms. We pivoted and instead embarked on an urban hike
to try to get to know our city a little better. Andy kept on calling
this a ‘Day of Culture’ but since I am writing this blog post, I will
note that a ‘Day of walking really far’ would have been just as apt.
From our home in Albert Park, we trekked first to the National Gallery
of
…
(click for more).
Sunshine Coast
23 May 2015 Alexandra Headlands, Vic
As an early birthday present, Erin planned a short trip for us to
Noosa and the Sunshine Coast – a set of beachfront communities about an
hour north of Brisbane. We caught a Thursday afternoon flight out of
Melbourne, which was quite bumpy due to the developing thunderstorms
along coast. As we approached the landing, our pilots hit the gas and
pulled out of it a few moments before impact and then circled
…
(click for more).
Noosa
25 May 2015 Noosa, Qld
We left our Alexandra Heads accommodation early on the slow bus bound
for Noosa. The trip – cheap and comfortable – follows the windy road all
up the coast. We stopped every ½ mile or so to pick up a barefooted
surfer or two along the way. Scenic, slow and crowded by the time we
arrived in downtown Noosa. Noosa Heads is a very quaint,
…
(click for more).
A Long Awaited Delivery
28 May 2015 Albert Park, Vic
After five months at sea – well more like two months at sea and three
months in customs and port storage facilities – our shipment of
household goods finally arrived. And just 72 hours prior to our flights
back to the U.S. for the month of June. The boxes looked like they had
been kicked, dragged and thrown the entire 8,186 miles, but miraculously
nothing, minus
…
(click for more).
Winter in Melbourne
27 June 2015 Albert Park, Vic
[Andy] I returned from our hectic U.S. trip to depths of Melbourne
winter. A calm and sunny 55 degrees. As a native of the upper Midwest I
remember late spring/early summer days that weren’t this nice. Yet, a
good portion of the locals took the opportunity to don their North Face
puffy jackets and knit, woolen hats. Perhaps overkill, but I do love the
smell of the wood fireplaces burning in our
…
(click for more).
Melbourne from the Sky
20 July 2015 Melbourne, Vic
[Erin] I flew back to Melbourne on July 8th, prepared to keep myself
busy with work until Andy got back on the 26th. One Cryptolock Virus,
one trans-Pacific voyage for my computer and one panic attack later I
found myself without a laptop, feeling completely un-tethered from
society. The only silver lining of sending my laptop back to the States
for resurrection was that with the
…
(click for more).
Heide Art Museum
22 July 2015 Heidelberg, Vic
[Erin] Earlier this week, on a day that promised to have 0% chance of
rain, I took a bike ride out of town to visit the Heide Museum of Modern
Art. A 20 kilometer bike ride from the city, the Heide sits within 15
acres of parklands. The land was purchased by John and Sunday Reed in
1934. And what was initially their home of a farm house, (Heide I) and
kitchen
…
(click for more).
Blind Date
10 August 2015 Frankston, Vic
One perk of moving to a large, international city is that many of our
friends, family and colleagues have connections here in Melbourne. As a
result, from time to time we get set up for, what could only be called,
blind dates. This Sunday was such an occasion. One of Erin’s childhood
friends had studied in New Zealand and knew a girl who happened to be
living
…
(click for more).
Geelong
25 August 2015 Geelong, Vic
We each had a busy past week preparing for new adventures; Andy with
baseball tryouts for the Port Melbourne Mariners, (serendipitously
enough our local team), and me with my first teaching experience at the
University. I was hired as a teaching assistant, or a Tutor as they are
referred to here, for a Site Planning and Design studio through the
University Landscape Architecture program.
…
(click for more).
Footy Friday
5 September 2015 Melbourne, Vic
Eric
arrived today, our first visitor from back home. For his first full day,
we hit up the South Melbourne Market for a lunch of Yum Cha (Dim Sum),
Oysters and Meat Pies. We then took a long, leisurely stroll into
downtown, winding through Melbourne’s famous alleyways, eventually
grabbing a few beers from a small café. There were many choices of
alleyway bars, but we were lured in by the large Italian man who smelled
strongly of coconut and vanilla and who offered us
…
(click for more).
Great Ocean Road, Day 1
6 September 2015 Apollo Bay, Vic
The
offer of a free upgrade at the rental car office is always a good omen
for a road trip. The ‘upgrade’, in this case, meant getting handed the
keys to metallic green Holden Commodore Sport Edition. If you are
anything other than an Aussie or absolute car wonk, you probably have
never heard of Holden. It is an oft-maligned domestic brand. Think
Pontiac not Cadillac. Pulling out the Avis garage, strange noises
…
(click for more).
Great Ocean Road, Day 2
7 September 2015 Warrnambool, Vic
[Erin] We began day 2 of our Great Ocean Road trip in search of more
koalas. Slow and seemingly high, these marsupials are 70% shanks, 20%
ears and 100% adorable. My maths don’t add up, but the description
should at least give you an overall understanding of the koala bear
cuteness. We understood the ‘bear’ descriptor after seeing these little
guys in action (or inaction), but I would probably characterize them as
part Ewok, part hamster.
…
(click for more).
Heide Sculpture Garden
10 September 2015 Bulleen, Vic
Eric and Erin ventured out to the Heide Museum of Modern Art for a
late lunch in the museum’s café and then toured the massive sculpture
garden discussing which pieces we liked best. After hearing “I could
make that” one too many times from Eric, they both settled on the airy
and geometric volume create out of welded rebar as the top
…
(click for more).
Mornington Day Trip
12 September 2015 Portsea, Vic
The weather called for 0% chance of rain so we decided to drive down
to the Mornington Peninsula for the day. Naturally it started raining on
us as we reached our first stop at the Cranbourne Royal Botanical
Gardens. These gardens were magnificent. We can only imagine that the
designers that got to work on this job were in heaven. Within the
featured Australian Garden, there were twenty or so individual
…
(click for more).
And they are off…
14 September 2015 Flemington, Vic
Horse racing in Victoria still maintains a measure of cultural and
social importance. Or, in other words, still offers members of polite
society a chance to dress up and remind themselves that they are still
members of polite society. The horses themselves are a bit of an
afterthought. Being two immigrants and a tourist, we first checked the
style guide – no jodhpurs, cravats,
…
(click for more).
Last Hurrah (for Eric)
16 September 2015 Halls Gap, Vic
Eric’s time with us was quickly coming to an end. A successful first
time for us hosting a fellow Yank. With the glorious spring weather, we
snuck in one last little trip – a one night excursion to the Grampians –
before Eric was set to return to America. We had been to the
Grampians before but still had plenty to explore.
…
(click for more).
Perth, then North
3-4 October 2015 Perth(ish), Western Australia
While our west coast trip was meant to get us out of the city, we did
dedicate a morning to a small walkabout in central Perth. It is a nice
city, complete with multiple pedestrian zones, flashy new buildings and
all the requisite retail chains, high end restaurants and tourist shops.
And when we say ‘nice’, we are hinting at
…
(click for more).
Rotto
4 October 2015 Rottnest Island, Western Australia
While most of Australia was making its way to Melbourne to watch the
Australian Football League Grand Finals, (the Aussie Superbowl), we were
happily tucked into our small AirBnB in Fremantle, a suburb of Perth.
After an evening of exploring town we booked morning tickets on the boat
to
…
(click for more).
The Race that Stops a Nation
4 November 2015 Melbourne, Victoria
Tuesday was Melbourne Cup Day. It is the biggest race day of the
8-day Spring Carnival and a public holiday for all, except us lowly
University employees. This may seem a bit excessive for a horse race,
but this is a country where gambling is as much of
…
(click for more).
Things I’m Loving about Melbourne
17 November 2015 Melbourne, Victoria
ART & DESIGN EVERYWHERE
From government commissioned graffiti to land sculptures to temporary
installations, this city supports art that will amaze you and engage
you. Also, I’m pretty sure it is someone’s full time job to cover our
neighborhood sidewalks with cheery chalk drawings.
…
(click for more).
